Another Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone and with another polarizing halftime show — this time with Rihanna as the headliner. Decked out from head to toe in red latex and leather, Rihanna has returned to the stage after a nearly seven-year hiatus, taking us all by surprise. The Grammy-winning singer made a comeback audiences will not forget, especially when said comeback came with a surprise cameo that no one was expecting.
Kicking the performance off with a brief segment of her hit single “What’s My Name” and the biggest baby announcement to rival all past, present and future baby reveals, the singer revealed to the nation that she is expecting her second child with her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, as she began the show with “Bitch Better Have My Money.” This made Rihanna the first performer in Super Bowl History to headline a halftime show pregnant.
In other news, at the end of the night the Kansas City Chiefs won the game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a score of 38-35, so for all you Chiefs fans, congratulations. Now to the main event of the night, Rihanna’s concert.
Performing hit after hit, the nearly 14-minute medley was made up of 12 songs that most, if not all of us can easily recognize from our childhood to Rihanna’s most recent hits from her 2016 album, “ANTI.” A fast-paced performance consisting of hit singles “Only Girl (In the World)” and “We Found Love,” the pop singer revealed during a Super Bowl Halftime Press Conference that the set list for the halftime show changed nearly 39 times, and that creating the setlist was the hardest part when it came to preparing for the halftime show.
“You only have 13 minutes, that’s the challenge, so you have to cram 17 years of work into 13 minutes, so it’s difficult,” Rihanna said. “…The show is going to be a celebration of my catalog in the best way that we could have put it together.”
The hard work and constant preparation seem to have been worth all the effort, since according to FOX Sports’ Data, this year’s Super Bowl has amassed over 118.7 million viewers, with five million of those viewers solely being for Rihanna’s halftime show. Success across all charts.
The fast-paced performance included hit singles such as “Where Have You Been,” “Work” and “Wild Thoughts,” all accompanied by amazing backup dancers, hyping up Rihanna as she glided up and down the red stage.
Even while performing, Rihanna multitasked by plugging her makeup brand, FEИTY, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment during her “All of the Lights” performance, while executing flawless vocals as her backup dancers dominated the stage during “Run This Town.”
Even though Rihanna has not performed live in more than five years, she proved to everyone that it does not matter if you take a break — once a star always a star.
The crowning moment of the performance, however, would have to be the moment Rihanna was lifted into the sky and levitated for the last few minutes of the performance. Rihanna closed out the night by singing “Umbrella” and “Diamonds,” to the absolute delight of the crowd and viewers at home alike.
From the backup dancers to the singer herself, all those on stage gave an amazing, non-stop performance from the second the first melody played to the last note Rihanna sang. This year’s halftime show will certainly be one that many will return to watch for years to come.
Super Bowl LVII will forever be known by American and international audiences as the year that Rihanna revealed her second pregnancy during the Super Bowl, and we respect it.